Cash

Catchy. I like it. Probably need to be a top 5 offense to say it with a straight face.

Thank you. It seems like the RT spot was so bad last year that it somehow gave the LT spot a free pass. Demetrius Bell has exactly zero quality seasons in his career. Yes he's young, yes he's raw, yes he's had some injuries, but it's not he's a former Pro Bowler that we're expecting to return to form. And even if he does step up and play really well (fingers crossed), what happens if/when he gets hurt again? The Ed Wang Show? The Cordaro Howard experience? And when did the immortal Kraig Urbik become a rock-solid starter? Face it, our line has a lot more questions than answers right now, and not just at RT. I feel like we're solid at LG & C, and that's about it. On the bright side, we're slowly inching back towards being able to draft an OT high. 5th round a couple years ago, 4th round last year... we should expect a stud OT in the 2014 draft.

No chance they sign Roth, because they think the OLB spots are LOCKED DOWN with Merriman and Kelsay. Sad but true.

I think the loss of Carson Palmer helps the Bengals. Both because he stinks and has a bad attitude, and because replacing him with a rookie should mean much more emphasis on the run game. Cincy's run game was actually pretty good last year, but they kept throwing the ball for some reason, and Palmer just killed them. I expect them to go more run-heavy this year with Dalton under center. Of course, if Dalton has a Jimmy Clausen-esque rookie year, they'll struggle to win 2 games. But if he can at least match Palmer's bad performance, a rookie AJ Green should be a mild upgrade over a washed-up Ochocinco, and their D could bounce back. I wouldn't be shocked if they were a little better than last year. It's early, but I'd say it's a wash between us and the Bengals right now, considering that their schedule's a little easier than ours. I'd definitely rather be a Bills fan than Bungles fan, though, and there's no question about that. For all the knocks on Mr. Ralph, Mike Brown is clearly a much worse owner, and he's his own GM to boot.

Badly misspelled Chekov, and got his rank way wrong. Plus, I don't remember Trent being nicknamed after Chekov in the first place. Anyone know why? Did he pronounce V's as W's or something?

I would try looking around Wall Street, not Pittsford. Unless you mean like an online trader? In that case, your best bet is probably to hack E-trade's database. Good luck!

So true. Hightower in the 3rd round? Even if you like him as a sleeper, that's at least 5 rounds too high. Although I do like his idea of taking the #5 WR on a mediocre offense in the 12th round. (Full disclosure: I may very well pick up Kerley in a non-PPR league that counts return yards, but only if he gets both KR & PR jobs, and only if I'm desperate.)

I love how PK's breathless anecdote describes Smith throwing a pass well short of Stevie Johnson. That's not exactly the kind of threat we're going for, Peter. I also like how he refers to Pittsford as a college town.

To be fair, it looked like Maybin really did make the play. He was lined up at RE I think, and shed his block as the ball carrier was coming through. Not a solo tackle, but looked to me like Maybin was the first defender to actually hit the back. But yeah, he looks incredibly skinny. Although if he just gets more playing time, he'll make a huge impact -- just ask him.

He was right in the range where contracts went from being fully guaranteed to partially guaranteed, so there really was something to negotiate there. Whoever's on that line is going to want to make sure they wind up on the right side of it.

Several of the practice reports I've read have said that Wang has been getting beat by Maybin in 1 on 1's. That's a bad sign. On the other hand, out of Rinehart, Wrotto, Wang, and Cordaro Howard, Wang is the only one who remotely projects to LT, so maybe he's got a chance in that regard. Oh, and Buddy Nix wants me to remind everyone that our OTs are better than most people think they are. It must be true, because he says it a lot.

Plus they tend to be fairly poor quality. Very pixelated if you try to go full screen. Better than nothing, though.

Truth be told, the list they gave seemed pretty spot on. I'm speaking more in the abstract. Although I'll still take passer rating, with its transparent flaws, over total quarterback rating. Regarding beardo specifically, I concur. Average to below average, but not the pits. Not a long term solution, but fun to watch in the interim.

Didn't they keep 10 linebackers last year? Or am I just crazy? But even if I am, LBs are typically your best special teams players, so it makes sense to keep extra.

Interesting that they're keeping the roster at 89 instead of 90. Why leave a space open? Ralph must not have that 90th check in the budget! ...Calm down, folks. I know they don't cut checks until the season starts. Which makes it even more curious. That open roster spot doesn't save any money, but it does represent another player who could be practicing.

"Total Quarterback Rating" is only as good as the subjective judgments and biases of the persons grading each play. (Example: was that an overthrow, or was it a good throw that the receiver gave up on?) Passer rating, though flawed, is at least objective, transparent, and verifiable. I'll take the devil I know over the devil I don't. And I'm not enough of a conspiracy theorist to think they'll actually do it, but it sure would be easy for ESPN to fake the results for their home-made stat. Near as I can see, they haven't published any actual formulas or calculations, so we just have to take their word for it on what the ratings are.

I agree with this. Although I love all the homer comments about improving the #6 receiver spot, and bringing in Davis to ensure that Huggins and Roosevelt have great camps. No need to worry about upgrading the #1-#4 OT spots, we've gotta improve that #6 WR spot. Gotta make sure there's someone to push Felton Huggins, but we'll just hand Bell and Pears their starting jobs with no competition. Guys, if your logic is right, it makes the Bills look dumber, not smarter. You mean to tell me there's no OT out there who could beat out Chad Rinehart, Mansfield Wrotto, or Ed Wang? No one who could at least provide Bell or Pears a little competition for the starting job, even if he doesn't win it? Our most proven OT was a waiver-wire pickup last year. The Bills aren't trying to upgrade their roster so much as trying to run full practices.

Schefter just reported that Whitner actually signed with the 49ers, not the Bungles: http://twitter.com/#!/AdamSchefter/status/99224158663225346 I find this comical and interesting. There's already a story about Whitner's addition on bengals.com. Some shenanigans going on, or what?

Things to expect: A complaint about the lack of citrus fruit in his Labatt Blue An extensive description of the food the Bills provide to media A super-fresh, super-exclusive item about how Fitz wears his wedding ring during games Utter surprise at the weather being above 70 degrees The obligatory Shawne Merriman piece wherein PK states that Merriman will be hugely back this year, unless he isn't. More words written about coffee than current and active Buffalo Bills

As far as I understand it, it's a 1-time $3mil "cap credit" that a team can use on an existing contract. So if the Bills used it on Lee Evans, his contract would go from counting $5mil against the cap (or whatever it actually is) to $2mil against the cap. Doesn't change the cash paid out, just keeps some from counting towards the cap. There's a similar exemption next year as well, I think. Something like $1.5mil?

I have to say under. I look at how bad our offense was in the last couple games last year, and with a whole offseason to gameplan for Fitzpatrick, I see our offense taking a step back. I doubt the O-line will be any better, and I expect Fitz's performance to regress somewhat. (I'm discounting any Spiller/Brad Smith contributions, so if I'm wrong, maybe it's b/c they wind up bringing a lot to the table.) I do expect the D to be at least a little better, but how much? Dareus is just a rookie, Williams can't be any better than he was last year (and will probably be worse - regression to the mean), and I refuse to count on anything from Merriman until I see it in a regular season game. Losing Whitner and Poz will probably hurt more than help (unless Barnett has a monster year), but not much. And as long as Kelsay continues to start at LB, I continue to have zero confidence in our D-coordinator or scheme. So yeah, I'll go under, but I'm not quite confident enough to bet it. I've bet the Bills' win total exactly once - 2009, Jauron's last year. Over/under was 7.5 (-115), and I figured that if I had to sit through another horrible year under Jauron, I might as well at least get paid for it. Was 100% confident that we'd go under. Even the mini-rally under Fewell couldn't get us close.

Stevie is gonna have trouble separating from DBs this year, I think.

Never expected we'd give Miller a look, so I'm not disappointed. (Although I guess I'm still disappointed that he wasn't on our radar in the first place.) As for Seattle, I'm guessing this means they'll run a lot of 2TE sets with Miller and Carlson. Could work out pretty well if they had a QB or RB.

You know that they actually weigh players on a scale at the combine, right? Unless the scale is rigged, Dareus weighed 319 actual lbs. at the combine. If he's "easily more than 343" right now, that's not being a big dude, that's getting himself fat. You're right that a lot of linemen are listed too light (Mt. Ted & Pat Williams being 2 good examples), but if that's the case for Dareus, we should be concerned. Gaining well above 25 lbs. in 5 months is not indicative of the kind of discipline needed to be a success in the NFL.

Good point in general. But regarding the bolded portion specifically, we're in trouble if Dareus is much higher than 343. That would mean he's eating himself out of the NFL. Hopefully the listed weight is incorrect in the other direction, and Dareus is still in the 310s or 320s.